Vehicles on the road today use a variety of sensors to detect different aspects of an environment. These sensors may then communicate this detected information about the environment to the driver or cause the vehicle to react in some way (e.g. a rain sensor that causes the windshield wipers to swipe across the windshield.) Such sensors may need to be placed in a variety of locations on the vehicle. In many instances, it may be desirable to place certain sensors near the roof of the vehicle. However, because of the size or awkwardness of some sensors, placing a sensor on the roof of the vehicle may be less visually appealing to consumers. For instance, large sensors, such as autonomous vehicle sensors, are not easily concealable and are often found to be visually unattractive to many consumers.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative roof structures to conceal vehicle sensors to preserve the visual appeal of the vehicle while not unduly affecting the performance of the sensors.